The second installment of the CFP Rankings drop on Tuesday evening, and if last week was any indication, the committee will have a few attention-grabbing surprises for us because they love nothing more than making the sport about themselves.
Miami is going to drop, and it is going to drop below Notre Dame. The 31-24 loss was not only the Hurricanes' first loss, but it gave the Irish a tiebreaker, which could come into play if a first-round bye is on the line. Neither team is in my predicted top four this week, but there will be some attrition, and assuming ESPN won't use its influence to make the entire top four an SEC lovefest or the committee won't try to continue to tout Mississippi State as a quality win, there are plenty of decisions left to be made.
(Speaking of Mississippi State, now sitting at 4-5, since the Bulldogs lost to Vanderbilt, do the Commodores get credit for a "quality win" too?)
Miami falls to No. 7 in CFP predicted rankings
1. Georgia Bulldogs, 42-7 win over Ole Miss
2. Utah Utes, 28-20 win over BYU
3. Alabama Crimson Tide, 31-13 win over LSU
4. Texas Longhorns, 34-20 win over Missouri
5. Indiana Hoosiers did not play
6. Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 31-24 win over Miami
7. Miami Hurricanes, 31-24 loss to Notre Dame
8. Tennessee Volunteers, 34-6 win over Kentucky
9. UCLA Bruins, 34-20 win over Minnesota
10. Texas Tech Red Raiders, 53-48 win over West Virginia
11. Houston Cougars, 31-24 win over Cincinnati
12. Kentucky Wildcats, 34-6 loss to Tennessee
13. BYU Cougars, 28-20 loss to Utah
14. Oregon Ducks, 41-28 win over Ohio State
15. Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 77-0 win over Merrimack
16. Iowa Hawkeyes, 24-10 win over Northwestern
17. USC Trojans did not play
18. South Carolina Gamecocks, 17-9 win over Texas A&M
19. Boise State Broncos, 64-38 win over Colorado State
20. Ole Miss Rebels, 42-7 loss to Georgia
21. Arizona Wildcats, 29-28 win over TCU
22. LSU Tigers, 31-13 loss to Alabama
23. SMU Mustangs, 51-28 win over Virginia Tech
24. Oklahoma State Cowboys, 66-28 win over Kansas State
25. Duke Blue Devils, 41-3 win over NC State
Miami should fall, but gets a gift from the CFP Committee
I have Duke coming in at No. 25 this week - the Blue Devils have earned that spot. This would also give the Hurricanes another quality opponent. I mean, granted, Duke isn't at the level of Mississippi State, but the Blue Devils are pretty good and the on-field results back that up.
Duke in the CFP rankings is also a good emotional boost for Miami. You have to think the Hurricanes are still a little spent after last week's battle with Notre Dame. There was a lot of physical, mental, and emotional energy exhausted in that game after months of buildup. It would be understandable to not have that same level of energy in Week 11. But if it's a top-25 Duke team? That might be the wake-up call the Hurricanes need.
The 24-team bracket comes a year too late
Look at these predicted rankings and all the fun potential matchups we could have in a 24-team bracket. Who wouldn't want to see Oklahoma State's offense go up against that UCLA defense or an SMU-Texas Tech playoff game to bring us older fans back to the days of the Southwest Conference. The people who really don't want this are looking from the perspective of preserving things that don't exist anymore.
I know Ole Miss got whooped by Georgia last week, but who wouldn't still want to see Trinidad Chambliss try to navigate another inspired playoff run with a slightly undermanned Rebels team? There's so much more an expanded playoff gives us than what we think we're losing.
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